Mayflower Open Meeting Report

The Larks made their annual visit to Plymouth over the weekend of 14/15 October.

An Easterly F3-4 on the Saturday meant ideal conditions for sailing outside the breakwater. Race Officer Dave Curno made the most of it, by running four races. Nigel Hufton & Chris Whitehouse revelled in the conditions to post four straight wins, but were chased hard by James Stewart & Ruth Johnson with 3 second places and Richard Bennett & Kelsey Suggitt with 3 third places. New pairing Simon Cox & Alison Dart also showed their potential with second in Race 2.

Stronger wind on Sunday meant racing was held in the Sound, with the combination of a smaller course and a shifting, gusting, wind making for a lot of place changing and exhilarating downwind sleigh-rides. Stewart & Johnson got the best of the shifts to win race 5 from Bennett & Suggitt. However, in an increasing wind, Hufton & Whitehouse showed excellent downwind speed to pull through to win two more races - also from Stewart & Johnson. With 6 wins and 5 races to count, Hufton & Whitehouse retained the Haigh Silver Plate. Helen Scott finished as top lady helm in 7th place.